Category Archives: Health

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A Pastor’s Thanksgiving List

10 Things I'm Thankful for this week

It’s that time of year, where our hearts turn toward things we are thankful for.  Thanksgving is far too important a habit to only do once per year.  Zig Ziglar was right: “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

Sounds like something we ought to cultivate year-round!  So here’s my list of 10 things I’m thankful for as a pastor:

1. Thank you, Lord, for saving me, and for your sanctifying work in my heart.

The day I feel like I’ve arrived is the day I stop leading people deeper into Christ.  Don’t ever let me get over the shock of the Gospel, or the hunger for more holiness.

2. Thank you, Lord, for calling me into the work of a pastor.

It’s a privilege to help the Great Shepherd care for His sheep.  Thanks for inviting me to participate in leading your people.  Don’t let me use them, resent them, or mislead them.  Let me be patient with them like you are with me.

3. Thank you, Lord, for my wife.

Darrell and Elizabeth Stetler

My wife Elizabeth and I

She could have done anything.  She could have had a safe house and life in a small town.  She could have lived where the helicopter doesn’t circle.  But she was willing to live in an exemplary way, in the “fishbowl” of a pastor’s home, and serve God’s people in that way.   Thank you for her unselfish commitment to the Kingdom… and me.

4. Thank you, Lord, for my family.

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Grace, Darrell III, Heath, Caleb, Gideon and Will

They take the benefits and sacrifices with grace and sweetness.  Please help me be faithful to them, and to pastor the little church in my home first.

5. Thank you, Lord, for my spiritual heritage.

V. O. Agan and Darrell Stetler II

Granddaddy Agan – a great man and preacher

Four Stetler Generations - Kenneth Stetler, Darrell Stetler Sr, Darrell Stetler II, Darrell Stetler III

Four Stetler Generations

I remember today that I stand on the shoulders of those before me.  Thank you for their prayers, their example, their faithfulness.  Thank you for the stores of wisdom and prayer that are there for me to draw on.

6. Thank you, Lord, for my successes… & failures.

My successes keep me trusting that I’m making a difference.  Thank you for giving me enough hits to have the courage to keep swinging the bat.

My failures keep me humble, and learning.  Thanks for helping me not be destroyed by them.  Thank you that I’m not always right.  When I fall, help me learn to pick up something while I’m down there.

7. Thank you, Lord, for the volunteers who serve with me.

They lift the load in so many ways.  Bless them today, and make their reward great.  Let them feel my gratitude and Your smile.

8. Thank you, Lord for the people who willingly follow.

It’s such a blessing to have some who gladly do right.  Sorry I sometimes forget them in the rush to go after those who stray.  Thank you that everyone is not wandering or resisting… that some let me do my worth with joy & not heaviness of heart.

9. Thank you, Lord, that my self-worth is not wrapped up in what people think of me.

I rest in what you see.  I rest in your definition of success.  They don’t have to like me… or my preaching… or vote for me… or give in the offering… or support my latest idea… for my ministry to be acceptable in your sight.

10. Thank you, Lord for strengthening my resolve.

When I think that I can’t go on, you step in and strengthen me.  I’m grateful.

 

What things are you most thankful for?  Share in the comments or on my Facebook page.

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How to Build a Morning Routine in 7 Steps

Mornings are crucial.  And they are fragile.  They can serve your greatest values, or they can feed your greatest weaknesses.  You can live your life getting up at the last possible second, racing around the house, speeding to work … or you can be intentional about mornings.

I think the single greatest, most impactful change I’ve made in the past 5 years in my life has been developing a routine for my mornings.  Here are the steps you need to build one for yourself.

Step 1: Identify how much sleep you need.

To have a good morning routine, you must start the night before.  A morning routines is not built on some sort of Spartan ability to sleep less and less.  It’s built on recognizing sleep as important, so you don’t stay up forever watching pointless late night TV or browsing the internet.

Your body needs sleep.  (I can’t get by on less than 7 hours for many days in a row.)  Your problem with mornings might not be self-discpline to get up when your alarm goes off — it might be to go to bed at a decent time!

3,000 years ago, Solomon wrote “do not love sleep or you will grow poor” (Prov. 20:13).  But in his day, people went to sleep soon after the sun went down, instead of staying up with electric lights and TV.  (Check out this chart of average sleep for Americans just since 1942.)

Step 2: Figure out which values you want to put up front.

Mark Twain quipped, “I can teach anyone to get what they want out of life; the problem is, I cannot find anyone who can tell me what they want.”  Do you know?  Do you have a time slot for things you value?  Is that time slot early in the day?

Here are the values that I base my morning routine on:

  • spiritual enrichment
  • blessing my wife
  • health and fitness
  • a thankful, positive attitude
  • leadership development
  • family values &
  • speaking into the lives of my kids
  • intentionality, mindfulness and productivity
Step 3: Draft a list of 5-minute-or-less ways to live those values.

Here’s why 5 minute ideas: Your mornings are not everlasting.  You don’t have hours before going to work.  So jot down ideas of how you might live out your values in a quick way.  For help in this area, try SJ Scott’s Kindle book, Habit Stacking.

Step 4: Identify how much time you have.

When do you have to leave for work?  What’s your get-up time?  What’s your go-to-bed time?  Which ones need to be adjusted?

Aim at a solid hour of routine.  If you can become efficient in that hour, you can put in a lot of  things that will make a difference in the person you will be in 10 years.

Step 5: Pick the best ideas, and write out your routine.
My morning routine in evernote

My morning routine in Evernote

Keep it somewhere that you can see, somewhere accessible through the morning.  After a while you won’t need to look.  But at first, you’ll need to see what’s next between every step.

For a long time, I kept mine in Evernote.  To avoid using all my phone battery looking at it, I emailed a copy to my Kindle.  You might want to print it out & post it on the fridge or coffeemaker.

Step 6: Set alarms & use a timer.

I use Morning Routine Alarm Clock for Android, which automates most of my timing through the morning.  But maybe all you want or need is an alarm clock.  But to make sure you’re moving foward, and not dragging, a timer is a great thing.

Step 7: Practice and tweak your routine.
Credit: Lightstock.com

Credit: Lightstock.com

I can assure you — It won’t work 100% right the first time.  Some mistake will come to light.  You’ll have too much time for one activity, and not enough for another.

That’s OK!  Tweak it and do it again tomorrow!

You will miss a day — no problem.  Do it again tomorrow!

A few hints:

Hint #1: Don’t forget commute time as part of your routine.  Can you listen to an audiobook?  Encourage someone?  Write a thank you note at a red light?  Pray and memorize a verse of Scripture?  Encourage yourself with some great music?

Hint #2: Find a way to fill “mindless time.”  There are some activities that don’t require a lot of mental energy and decision making.  You don’t have to think deeply to brush your teeth.  I hope. 🙂  So, can you fill that time with a growth habit that matches your values?  Personally, I listen to the NIV Dramatized Audio Bible for about 30 minutes each morning, while dressing, eating, starting laundry…

In the next post, I will share my own personal routine to give you some examples and share some things that have helped and inspired me along the way.

Who do you know that needs to read this? 🙂 Share it with them!

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3 Reasons You Should Go On An Information Fast

You’ve probably heard the statistic: The average person today sees more information in a Sunday edition of the New York Times than the average person in the 18th Century was likely to see in a year — or a lifetime, if they were rural and poor.

They don’t call it “the information age” for nothing.  It’s a challenge to sort through it all and figure out what’s important & actionable.

About four or five years ago, I did something I’d like to recommend. I went on what I called an “information fast.” I stopped reading books, magazines, news, Twitter, and blogs for 3 months… then largely extended it (with some exceptions) for another 3 months.  6 months with very little information intake.  While I didn’t stay on the fast forever, it did change my perspective on some things forever.

I know, I know… “leaders are readers” and all that.  I still believe that, and I still read.  But hear me out.

Here are 3 reasons I think you should consider doing an information fast:

1. If you’re not going to DO anything about most of what you read.

Don’t miss this: I found it was easier to READ about doing something, than to actually DO it.

I accumulated this list of great ideas, that I was doing nothing about.  27 ways to grow your church, 18 ways to connect with your spouse, 41 ideas about child-raising.  The latest techniques that the best practicioners were using.  I had more information than I had time!

So I picked up a saying during this season of my life: “Information is not as powerful as motivation.” Here’s what I mean:

Recently, I was at a bookstore (remember those?!) and saw all the diet, health and fitness books. Rows upon rows — it was astounding.  If I read a book per week, it would take years to finish.  Now, let me ask: which one of those books was the right plan?  

See what I mean?  It’s better to choose a way, and DO it, than to spend another 30 hours of internet research looking for the RIGHT way. Get the basics, make a decision, throw all your focus and action at it, and if you fail — learn!

The best and most encouraging book I’ve read on the courage to start things is Seth Godin’s Poke the Box.  I recommend it if you need a kick in the seat of the pants, or just some encouragement to start something instead of “thinking about it” for another year.

2. If more information is just going to paralyze you.

Concept of businessman choosing the right door - the paralysis of analysis

The paralysis of analysis (credit: Bigstockphoto.com)

There’s something unhealthy about continually taking in information and not doing anything about it.

I found that taking in too much information just kept me distracted all the time with “the paralysis of analysis.” Having 20 different ways to get where I want to go is actually confusing and de-motivating.  I’d rather find 1-2 ways from a source that I trust, and put my effort, time and focus into actually taking action.

During my information fast, I focused on ACTION – actually doing things that I already knew and had already learned.

3. If more information makes you more frustrated and discontent.

Ever read a great idea, or an encouraging, glowing report on another church, or another business — and think “Well, yeah, but I can’t do that because…”?

Lots of info I was consuming fit into that category:

  • I didn’t have the money (frustration with my calling)
  • I didn’t have the time (frustration with my family)
  • I didn’t have the facility (frustration with location)
  • I didn’t have the staff (frustration with others)
  • I didn’t have the leaders/church board/etc (frustration with the people I was called to serve)

(My wife caught this in me first, and called me on it.  I’m very thankful for her practicality & wisdom.)

If you’re in that kind of zone, even reading great reports & novel tactics from somewhere else can create discontent with YOUR situation.

So I stopped reading them for a while…

…put the action and effort and learning into my people and my place…

…and gained some needed perspective on life.

FINAL WORD

If you’re the guy who is out there and hasn’t read a book in 2 months… this post is not for you.  But if the three items above apply to the way you’re consuming information, give it a shot for 3 months and see what happens.

Don’t quit reading this blog, of course. 🙂

EXIT QUESTION: Which of the 3 reasons resonates with the way you tend to consume information now?  What do you think you’d discover in 3 months of just acting on what you already know?  Chip in with your comments below, or comment on my Facebook.
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5 Ways to Keep the Internet from Controlling Your Life

The internet is a great blessing.  I love it.  But ever feel like the internet is controlling your life?  Ever feel like you started to get something done, then somehow wound up on Youtube watching Denver the Guilty Dog?  Did you just click and watch Denver the Guilty Dog? 🙂

You’re not alone:

  • According to Nielsen, US adults spent an average of more than 30 hours a month on their phones in 2013.
  • The average Facebook user spends 46 minutes per day on the site.
  • It would take you 2 weeks (24 hours a day!) to watch all the video uploaded to Youtube — IN THE LAST 60 SECONDS.

I think we can all agree: The internet can be a monster that eats up your time.

Here’s how to tame the monster: